by In June of 2022, Corsicana filed for Chapter 11, and in October of that same year, Blue Torch Finance acquired them through a court-supervised auction.
Showing at its first market since declaring bankruptcy, the company has returned in full force and CFO Sally Erickson says the company is revitalizing the brand by going back to the basics.
“We lost a lot of customers when we declared, and now we’re focusing on building back those relationships and being transparent with the industry about what we’re doing differently,” she says.
Erickson says the company is using the Vegas market as an opportunity to regain slots they’ve lost, and that retailers have been receptive to the changes.
“They want to know what we’re doing and how we’re navigating our move back into the industry,” she says. “Part of that is having our whole executive team here to meet with anyone who has questions. Many of them have realized that with new ownership, this is different, and we are showing retailers how we’ve executed on changes.”
The company worked through four stages to get back on track.
First, Erickson says they assessed the business and figured out where to cut the budget, running the number by the courts to ensure the company was on track to succeed.
And that’s where the basics come in. They have since revitalized their core mattress line and figured out how to become leaner when it comes to manufacturing.
Second, they put the right people in the right positions, Erickson being one of them, as she’s worked in the mattress industry for years and specializes in rethinking budgets and spending. Eric Rhea leads as CEO alongside Mike Juoni, senior vice president of commercial operations, a new position that addresses market opportunities for success across multiple channels.
In addition, the company reorganized several key positions throughout the company.
Erickson also said that the price of the mattresses — which sit in an affordable range of under $1,000 — has been a big change for them as they’ve looked to revive their price points while still being profitable. She adds that they’ve already exceeded expectations.
Tied in with that, the final step in their four-phase plan is to optimize and leverage an efficient cost structure so that they can move forward with the industry’s trust.
“From a CFO’s perspective, we have the right team and strategy in place to make a comeback and we encourage retailers to stop in and ask questions,” she says. “We want to be transparent and talk to retailers about what matters.”
